Jim Aparo penciled, inked & lettered every story in this volume with the exception of "The Commune Of Defiance!" which was partially illustrated by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano. He penciled and inked all of the included covers except for those noted which had additional contributors. Some issues' covers are not included because Jim Aparo did not illustrate them.
Color reconstruction on select stories by Joe Ketterer and Dave Tanguay.
Synopsis: An old friend of Batman's passes away, and Batman promises to care for his widow and young son. Soon, a series of bizarre murders take place in Gotham, and the widow begins seeing a strange apparition. The Phantom Stranger reveals the truth to Batman - the house is a coven for witches and warlocks. Can Batman and the Stranger stop them from summoning Satan?
Synopsis: When Batman is shot and cannot leave his wheelchair, he recruits Robin, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary to stop a major heroine shipment coming in to Gotham. But can Batman survive the surgery he needs to coordinate his team?
Synopsis: Batman learns a killer called the Bounty Hunter is in town and both Sapphire Stagg and Bruce Wayne are on his hit list. Metamorpho is released from his slumber to protect Sapphire. Can Batman and Metamorpho protect the rebellious Sapphire Stagg from the Bounty Hunter? And what's his scheme, anyway?
Synopsis: Batman wants to help the teenage activists The Young Aquarians clean up their neighborhood. But he's not speaking their language. So he brings in the Teen Titans for help. Can they all clean up Barclayville and fend off both the city government and a local criminal?
Synopsis: Batman suspects a health spa of giving criminals new identities to escape the law. When his attempts to get proof are foiled, he brings in Deadman to invisibly get to the heart of the matter. But when Deadman falls for the beautiful female leader of the gang, will he still be willing to get the evidence?
Synopsis: Batman suspects a beautiful young woman and her hot-headed brother are con artists after Bruce Wayne's money. So he brings in the recently-depowered Wonder Woman to play a part in catching them in the act. But is it all a scam, or is their father really in danger?
Synopsis: Investors in a guaranteed double-your-money scheme are being killed off. Since Oliver Queen is one of those investors, Batman brings in Green Arrow to help him stop the killer. Is Two-Face involved?
Synopsis: When a skyjacker demands three million dollars and the release of a crook, Batman recruits Black Canary to help him infiltrate the plane in disguise. But what is the real goal of the skyjacker?
Synopsis: When a hood gets the upper hand, Batman swears he'd sell his soul to live. When a mysterious figure saves him, Batman goes on with his life. Soon, he learns Sgt. Rock is still hunting Adolf Hitler years after his death. When Batman starts getting taunting calls suggesting his owes his soul, could he and Rock be chasing the same evil spirit? And could it be...Satan?
Synopsis: Batman meets Etrigan the Demon for the first time as the two pursue a monster that had once been a sailor, but now wants to kill all ocean-goers.
Synopsis: When Ted Grant brings Batman in to witness a test of a new fuel additive, the two get involved in a corporate espionage scheme that brings Wildcat out of retirement to track down a chemist lost since World War II.
Synopsis: Four men are killed, and it looks like the Joker did it. Or did he? Another killer appears to have done the killings and framed Joker, leading Batman to team with the Joker to find the killer. But can the Joker be trusted?
Synopsis: Batman and Mr. Miracle each find themselves investigating (and trapped inside) the same Egyptian tomb. What is the secret behind the advanced technology they find there, and can they escape in time?
Synopsis: Gotham's new mayor wants Batman to retire, to be replaced by the Metal Men. But when Bruce Wayne is taken hostage in his own building, it takes the Batman to help the Metal Men stop a deadly gas and the bad guys.
Synopsis: An airliner is brought down by a waterspout before it can arrive in Gotham. As Batman investigates, he learns that not only does Aquaman know about it, he caused it! Why has the King of the Sea done such a thing, and can he and Batman stop a terrorist plot against the U.S.?
Synopsis: The Batman is well on his way to tracking down a missing girl when he receives a massive electric shock, sending him into a near-death coma. But he's the only one who knows where the girl is being held. Enter the Atom, who by moving about in Batman's brain is able to stimulate his body and get it moving like a puppet. Can Batman's body instinctively get the Atom to the girl in time? And is this the end of the Batman?
Synopsis: Batman and the Spectre investigate the mystery of otherwise solid citizens who become stranglers. This leads them to cultists of the goddess Kali. What makes these men commit horrible murderers?
Synopsis: Has Sgt. Rock gone crazy? He keeps seeing a coward he executed back during the war. Can Batman get to the truth before Frank Rock's military career is over?
Synopsis: In Sparta Prison, 200 miles north of Gotham City, Mike Dubcek, the Joker's top henchman, has been imprisoned. His boss is still on the rampage, but Dubcek refuses to turn state's evidence, so Gordon has him put in solitary confinement until he agrees to talk. Dubcek swears that he is unbreakable, but a few weeks later, Gordon and Batman learn that the prisoner has gotten word to the Joker that he is close to the breaking point.
Meanwhile, ex-heavyweight boxing champion Ted Grant (alias the superhero Wildcat) is scheduled to fight an exhibition bout at Sparta. Since Dubcek once nearly defeated Grant when he was a professional boxer, the Warden has him fight the champ.
During the fight, which Grant wins after some difficulty, his "second," an ex-boxer named Whitey Ross, makes an apparent mistake when he briefly grabs Dubcek's water bucket. After the fight, however, Dubcek comes down with a virulent strain of a rare tropical disease, and Batman soon concludes that Whitey, working on behalf of the Joker, infected him via the water bucket.
Unfortunately, the virus spreads to the entire prison population, which means all 600 inmates will die if a cure is not found. The only possible hope is a dog named Spot, a lab animal with enough specialized antibodies in its blood to save the prisoners.
Spot is loaded onto an armored car for transport to the prison, but the Joker intercepts the convoy, incapacitates the guards with laughing gas, and steals the pooch, which then leaps out a window and escapes into the city.
After a lengthy manhunt (doghunt?), during which Spot changes hands several times, the Joker finally reclaims him. Breaking in on Batman's private radio frequency, he summons the Caped Crusader and Wildcat to "Jefferson Square Gardens," where he forces them to don spiked gloves and battle one another in a boxing match for his amusement, threatening to kill Spot if he is not pleased with the fight.
The fight ends in a double knockout, and the Joker, standing over the prone heroes, gloatingly announces that not only will Spot be killed anyway, but the two fighters have doomed each other, as their gloves were tainted with the disease. Spot is dragged out of the room to be killed, but bites the Joker on the way out.
Batman informs the Joker that he will now die, too, as the dog's saliva contains the plague germs, not the antibodies. The Joker rushes from the room to find that his henchmen have already tied a weight to Spot and dropped him in the river. The Joker dives after him, but discovers that he can't swim. Batman arrives just in time to rescue both the villain and the dog, and announces that everyone will receive shots of antibodies, including the captured Joker.
Synopsis: In 1975, Batman falls into a coma. But his spirit travels to the post-apocalyptic future of Kamandi, where he meets the last boy on Earth and helps him save a band of humans from Bear Rangers.
Synopsis: Batman and the Metal Men are assigned to protect a train devoted to celebrating the bicentennial. But when Native Americans take over the train, can Batman and the Metal Men protect the Declaration of Independence and Constitution?
Synopsis: The Swamp Thing has been captured and put on display in Gotham City like a freak. But when plants attack the city Batman must find out: is Swamp Thing to blame, or is he the only way to save the city?